Welcome to our May Newsletter, and Mission Trip Overview! We’ve had a busy month, full of intense activities, but the fruit has been immense!

May Updates

At the beginning of May we celebrated Mary’s birthday weekend, the sun was shining, delicious picnics were prepared, and the hot tub was heated in preparation! We enjoyed a home-made Lebanese inspired feast, and had fun in the sun! Joshua has also just had his birthday (on the Second of June) so we had the opportunity to visit North Devon Wake and Aqua Park too which was lots of fun!

Then on the 10th, Jim began Pedal and Pray Wales, 250 miles over seven days, he got to visit some stunning locations, including the Gospel Pass (the Highest Road in Wales) and the Snowdonia Region. To read more about Jim’s Wales Trip See here.

We’ve also had a new arrival on the farm! Baby Chick, Penguin hatched a few weeks ago and is thriving! Our two orphan lambs, Kyte and Woolly, are also doing well on the spring grass! The horses are shiny, the grass is long, and the flowers are blooming on the farm!

Mission Trip – May 2025

Instead of our annual overseas mission trip that has become a NDHOP usual, this year we felt to host two national mission trips to visit different Houses of Prayer and Ministries, to serve and equip others in the UK. In May we began Part 1 – The Midlands and Liverpool – We began the week in Telford, quite literally halfway up a mountain named the Wrekin. Halfway up this enormously popular day trip location is the Wrekin Cottage, a large house and café area that is locally known as the ‘Halfway House’. When Jim began Pedal and Pray in 2022, he went to pray up on the Wrekin, and the Lord told him to lay hands on Wrekin Cottage and Pray it into the Kingdom. Later he felt to talk to a friend involved Christian Ministry among the local community in Telford, and suggested that they should look into purchasing the Halfway House it for the kingdom. Fast forward three years, and the Halfway House is now under ownership of the Yellow Ribbon Charity, and is being used for the kingdom as a house of prayer and community hub. Anyway, On the Tuesday Morning we began on our way, but we were only a few miles from Tiverton when the car started bumping and had a strange sound! We managed to pull off the link road, and discovered one of our rear tyres was as flat as a pancake! We swapped it for the spare, and started moving, but the van began making bumping sounds again after 30 or so metres! We pulled over, and saw the problem…. the make of our van means that the spare tyre is screwed up underneath the van to make space inside, unfortunately, when it was last used the valve had become stuck between the van and the tyre carrier, meaning it let air out extremely quickly. With the recovery set to arrive at noon, and obligations to fulfil in Telford for Lunch, we thankfully managed to get a friend to take Jim into Tiverton to bring back a new tyre and then back to the garage to replace the spare. It was quite a painful start to the trip, however we knew God was truly looking after us when a unexpected gift of £250 came in, the amount needed to replace the tyres! After all that drama, we arrived at the Wrekin early afternoon!

We spent one blessed day with them, enjoying fellowship and worshipping together before we continued to the Beacon House of Prayer in Stoke on Trent. We had a blessed time with them praying over the city and families in their region.

Wednesday afternoon, we headed to Liverpool where we were greeted by Sue Sinclair and the Community Watchmen Ministries Team (CWM) with a lovely dinner and a walk along the beach, praying for the coastline. The next morning we went to Grace International Church to Share Testimonies and Encourage the Congregation there. The time of Worship was extremely powerful, and God was clearly moving! It was wonderful to see so many people gathered in unity and on fire for God. After a delicious meal with them, we were taken to key ‘prayer point’ locations across Liverpool. We shared a powerful time of worship in the Catholic Cathedral, where we were miraculously permitted to sing in front of the altar. We also went to the Liverpool Anglican Cathedral (also the largest in the UK) where they were preparing for a Gala Ball in Honour of the Liverpool Football Club Foundation. Although large, the atmosphere was strained, and we were saddened to see God’s house being disrespected and used in such a manner. We prayer on the altar, amidst blaring pop music sound checks for the Gala Event, and even had the opportunity to pray for a security guard. Then we went to see the Chinese Gate – the largest in Europe, but also with some interesting spiritual ties, and the LIPA Stage School, alongside the famous Paul McCartney Suitcase Stack.

On the Saturday we helped lead the Big PUSH, where we had an incredible time of Worship, and Jim shared some testimonies. The presence of God was wonderful! The next morning was our last day, as we went to Ormskirk Christian Fellowship, to lead the worship, share, and lead the children’s church. The worship was wonderful, and Jim spoke to the congregation about hearing God’s voice, whilst Mary taught the Children to do the same. It was lovely to have both the adults and children learning the same thing, albeit at slightly different levels! We then parted ways with our NDHOP Team, and headed to Gloucester, where we were due to spend four nights on a friend’s narrowboat.

Our Narrowboat Break!

We arrived in Gloucester in the early afternoon, and transferred our copious amount of bags into the boat! The canal is called the Gloucester and Sharpness, and is only 16 Miles long. It takes you about two hours to cruise the length of it. After a brief visit to a very wet and windy Sharpness, we headed upwards. We moored overnight and arrived in Gloucester the next morning. We moored in a beautiful location right in the centre of the city, a few minutes walk away from the Cathedral, Shopping areas, and right next to (not on purpose!) the Gloucester Mariners Chapel – we took a guitar in to worship!

We had an amazing, blessed time relaxing and doing very little. A few trips to charity show and see Gloucester, a visit to the oldest fish and chip shop in the County, and a treat dinner at a American Style Burger Restaurant, And Mary even managed to squeeze in a post-birthday hair cut! We really did have a wonderful time.

We headed home at the start of the weekend, and continued into the swing of farm life, bathing ponies, checking bees, and maintaining the property.

Jim is about to start stage 4 of His bike ride…. Pedal and Pray Ireland! You can find out more here, look out for his tracker and blog posts too!

More photos below from our holiday and May in general!

Blessings,

Jim, Mary, and Family.

P.S = More coming soon!